EasyScript Express: Learn To Take Fast Notes in a Matter of Hours (Hardcover)

~ Leonard Levin (Author) "A Simple Word is a word without a prefix or suffix..." (more)
Key Phrases: Suffix Compound

Editorial Reviews

Review

The EasyScript changed the way I take shorthand forever. What I like about the EasyScript method is that it has 5 basic rules that reinforce basic English. It is easier to remember 5 basic rules vs. other methods memorizing 20 or 30 rules and not learn anything.

One of the parts that I liked is the positional technique of the words. (first 4, 2+2, 3+1) This method reinforces basic English skills that I've learned in high school and in college. After finishing Lesson 1 I moved on to Lesson 2. EasyScript has the fixed rules for words, but lets you use common abbreviations that have been used all along. Such as dates, days of the week, months of the year, directions, etc.

The next night I did Lessons 3-5. I feel as if I've learned something and accomplished something in my life. Before ES, my options were pretty limited insofar as office skills. I've tried, Speedwriting, Gregg and ABC Stenoscript. All these three systems had too many rules and the systems were inflexible. I never had that problem with EasyScript because you can omit vowels in some words.

Another wonderful thing about this method is that regular longhand words become a type of code. I work for the Federal Government and I notate things and I find myself writing in ES language. For example, "started" becomes "strd", "consideration" becomes "csidh", etc. I find myself writing longhand words down and finding code words using the ES fixed rules.

Now, I'm writing Proper Names, States, Countries, all with EasyScript. I think that is money well spent and I really have confidence in my shorthand abilities. So far, my writing is now 29 wpm and I hope to reach 40 wpm. My personal goal is to write ES at 80 wpm.

I want to thank you for inventing a painless system of shorthand writing and making it accessible and affordable to the public. I thank you for this alternative to traditional shorthand writing and I plan to ES II!

--This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

Product Description

IDIOT-PROOF SPEEDWRITING AND SHORTHAND

You might be confused after reading: "Idiot-Proof Speedwriting and Shorthand". Is that made for stupid people? Not at all! Our system is so unique and easy that anybody can master it.

EasyScript/ComputerScript books are the first place to turn to when you're new to speedwriting and shorthand. Even if you've studied this subject and wish to continue using some your abbreviating techniques, EasyScript can be a great addition to combine it with your existing method. In other words, EasyScript books are intended for individuals who are:

• Intelligent. They know that they need to learn how take fast and accurate notes quickly but don't want to waste time with other speedwriting and shorthand books.

• Frustrated. They have tried to do master shorthand or speedwriting but found them too complicated.

• Confused. They're simply mystified by failing to grasp the subject. Are you intimidated and confused by shorthand? Do you find that traditional shorthand and speedwriting books are overloaded with symbols to memorize and you'll never use them? If you know what you need to do - but just don't know how to do it - then EasyScript/ ComputerScript is for you.

EasyScript/ComputerScript books are written for those intimidated and hard-working folks who know they're not dumb, but find that the complexities of shorthand and speedwriting make them lose motivation. EasyScript/ ComputerScript is the proven method for anyone who needs to take fast notes and accurate at meetings, on the phone and in school.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 168 pages
• Publisher: Legend Publishing; Rev & Updated edition (January 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1893726002
• ISBN-13: 978-1893726000
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #224,464 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

40 of 44 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Nice system, acceptable book, July 1, 2004

By	Preston Nevins - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

The system itself seems to be a good one, and EasyScript Express an acceptably effective way to learn it.

Here's how the book is broken down:
5pp Introduction
8pp Lesson 1: Simple words
7pp Lesson 2: Prefix words
10pp Lesson 3: Suffix words
11pp Lesson 4: Prefix/Suffix words
6pp Lesson 5: Compound words
2pp Easyscript Overview
2pp Adapting to EasyScript
8pp Answers to the exercises
45pp EasyScript Dictionary

The remaining 60 of the total 164 pages (most of the left-hand pages of all the chapters) are lined "notes" pages presumably for the student to practice in, leaving 104pp total of actual content. Of the content, at least 50% is lists of vocabulary for the learner to transcribe into EasyScript.

This would be a fine basic workbook for a class taught by an instructor that was available to explain things to you. As a self-training book it's rather lean. Ideally I'd want an introductory book like this to have perhaps triple the content (At least fill in those "Notes" pages). I'd want a lot more explanation of the reasoning behind the design, some anecdotes and examples of what people have been using ES for in their lives, examples that show it being used for something other than dictated business letters...something to "humanize" it a bit more.

I'd also like the opportunity to review previously-learned rules, and a lot more opportunity to familiarize myself with it by reading EasyScript text, not just writing isolated words. There are seven brief business-letter transcription exercises, but that's not enough. There's little EasyScript text available on the web (and basically nothing but generic PR stuff available on the official website), so after this brief overview of the basics, my only opportunity to practice is going to be to write something out myself, hope I'm doing it more or less correctly, and practice on that.

Basically the feel of this book was "Okay, we got a couple of hours. Here are the rules, here's a list of words to practice on, now go out and use it, good luck." After going through all the exercises I kind of vaguely know the basics, but I want more. Preferably without paying a hundred dollars...

27 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Short, sweet and to the point !!!, April 23, 1999

By A Customer

I was delighted with what I learned. I would definitely recommend this method to everybody. It opened up a whole new aspect to speedwriting - efficient and exciting. The book is short, sweet and to the point. I read a comment by a reader from Bowie, MD that the book has too few pages. I'm more concerned with mastering a good system than a number of book pages and after all, it's only 5 basic rules to study (no gimmick). Why would you ask for more pages if you learn what you need and it's by a wide margin easier than any other system ?

21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Decent system, but poorly presented, overpriced, March 30, 2006

By	ReadNReVu - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

The Good:

The EasyScript (ES) speedwriting system does NOT require cursive writing--so all of us hand printers out there can easily use it.

It is also a forward-moving speedwriting system, you write and move on--no constantly going backwards to underline letters or place tick marks, as is done with some other speedwriting systems.

You can use it on your computer or PDA.

Fairly easy to learn, and the rules are clear enough that compared to other systems, you can still transcribe your notes after a longer period of time has passed than you can with other speedwriting/shorthand systems.

The Bad:

Almost half of the book consists of empty note-taking pages. Worse, they are on the LEFT side, which, considering that the majority of people are RIGHT-handed, is not conducive to most people actually using the book as a workbook.

There are some typographical errors and omissions in the book--one glaring one is using a symbol that looks like a large backwards "6" to indicate "Paragraph" on page 59--where this key is on the keyboard, I have no idea.

The included dictionary is not of much use, since with their system you truly can figure out how to abbreviate any word--what would have been much more useful is a dictionary of general brief forms (not necessarily business-related either) for you to memorize.

As to the method itself, if this is your first try at speedwriting, you could do a lot worse. If, on the other hand, you have any previous experience with another letter-based speedwriting system you will probably want to tweak the ES system and/or combine it with abbreviations you're already using if some of the ES concepts don't make sense to you.

Bottom line: Decent system. The book is 'way overpriced (even at the Amazon price), considering how little actual content/instruction is in the book, so go in with a friend or buy used.